12 April 2005	Tuesday	02 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1426

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ISLAMABAD, April 11: The foreign office announced on Monday that the government had been in constant touch with the Iraqi government about the kidnapping of Pakistani embassy staffer Malik Mohammad Javed and had decided to dispatch roving ambassador Ehsanullah Khan to Baghdad and to send the ambassador-designate M. Yunus Khan to join his posting.

Malik Javed, an assistant in the mission, was kidnapped on Saturday night while he was returning to his residential quarter from a mosque by some people who claimed to be from the Omar bin Khattab group.

Foreign office spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani told a questioner at his weekly briefing that although additional reports were awaited, it appeared that the kidnapping was for ransom.

The decision to send the roving ambassador was taken at a meeting held here under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. It was attended by the minister of state for foreign affairs, the foreign secretary and other senior officials.

The spokesman said that all possible efforts would be made to secure the safe release of the employee from the kidnappers who belonged to “some unknown group about which even the Iraqis claimed no information”.

When asked about a meeting held in the foreign office on Monday between a team of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) of 44 countries and a foreign ministry team led by Additional Secretary Tariq Osman Hyder of the UN and EC desk, the spokesman said that talks were not related to the reported indictment of a Pakistani businessman, Humayun A. Khan, by a US court.

He said the NSG was an export-control arrangement of 44 countries aimed at preventing proliferation of nuclear weapons through voluntary implementation of guidelines for control of nuclear and nuclear-related exports.

The team’s visit to Pakistan was as part of its outreach programme to countries with capabilities in nuclear and dual-use infrastructure. The visit, he said, provided an opportunity to Pakistan to explain the steps it had taken for establishing an export-control regime on sensitive materials and technology consistent with the government’s strong commitment to non-proliferation, which the NSG had appreciated. He said Pakistan had not yet sought the group’s membership.

Pakistan would maintain contact with the NSG, he said, adding that it would welcome cooperation with the member countries in the field of peaceful use of nuclear technology and energy while “maintaining nuclear deterrence as an indispensable part of its security”. Both sides had agreed to continue their interaction, he added.

Answering a question, the spokesman said that Pakistan could not sign the NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) unless it was recognized as a nuclear weapon state which, he emphasized, it was.

He said that President Pervez Musharraf, during his stay in India from April 16 to 18, was scheduled to hold talks with Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and the issue of Kashmir would be the main subject, including possible options for a settlement.

However, he declared, elections in Kashmir could not be a substitute for a plebiscite as provided in the United Nations Security Council resolutions.

APP adds: The spokesman denied a report about the Baglihar dam issue that there was any suggestion by the World Bank to take the issue back to the bilateral track. He said the World Bank was in consultation with both Pakistan and India and hoped that the neutral expert would be appointed soon.

In reply to a question on the treaty of friendship signed between Pakistan and China recently, the spokesman said both the countries enjoyed close and time-tested friendship and both sought to promote peace and stability in the region.

He said Pakistan had always supported the efforts that were in the best interest of the Iraqi people. Pakistan, he added, always believed that the Iraqi people were the final arbitrator of their destiny.

The spokesman welcomed a recent statement by the Indian external affairs minister that New Delhi was willing to discuss options on Kashmir which, he added, was in line with the understanding reached between President Musharraf and the Indian prime minister at a meeting in New York last year.